LAST EDITED ON 06-19-09 AT 02:08 PM (EST)

This thread was supposed to be about Season 8 doings...but there is interesting stuff happening from earlier alums--a few tidbits:

--Michael Johns album, Hold Back My Heart, debuts next week; his single, Heart On My Sleeve, got a good review in People magazine this week.

--Chris Daughtry has a new album coming out next month.

--David Archuletta's dad, Jeff, was arrested for soliciting a prostitute (police found him in a massage parlor).

--Carly Smithson is joining with the group Evanesence to form a new group, the Fallen:

From Idol Chatter via MJSbigblog: "Carly Smithson is joining the original guys of Evanescence, who are re-launching as a hard-rock band called The Fallen. They’ll make a formal announcement Monday in Hollywood, with a press conference and first live performance. The band’s debut song, Bury Me Alive, will be available at that time for free download at wearethefallen.com.The lineup consists of Smithson and three of the four original members of Evanescence — guitarists Ben Moody and John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray — as well as bassist Marty O’Brien, whose recording and touring credits include Disturbed and Kelly Clarkson.

“This band is going to be theatrical and in-your-face and huge,” Smithson says. “Everything that we do is just going to be big.”

Smithson had been working on a solo project of her own until connecting with Moody a few months ago. Now, she says, “I couldn’t be happier. Creatively we’re all on the same page. Visually, we’re all on the same page. We want a massive stage production. We watch the same TV shows, everything. It’s almost weird, that we’re like an awesome family all of a sudden.” "